Protospiel report

by Gil Hova

So, I’m back from Protospiel. Here’s what happened.

I brought three games: Pax Robotica, MacGuffin Market, and Grand Guignol.

Pax Robotica was awesome! Players really enjoyed it. The last change I made to it, adding the die, made an enormous difference. Players didn’t find it too random at all, perhaps because they get $5 every time their Bots are blown up, as opposed to $3 if their Bots survive. (The math works, but it’s a little athematic. Hmmm.) I think I’m very close to publishable with this one.

As for MacGuffin Market, hmmm. How can I put this? MacGuffin Market is now a “well, it’s okay” kind of game. I’m very unhappy with where it is, to the point that I’ve decided to shelve the design. I may not ever come back to it; there is simply too much for me to work on right now to worry about a mediocre game.

Now, the third game. I suppose you want to hear about it. Very well. It’s called Grand Guignol, and it’s a drafting game. I’m setting it in the legendary French horror theater, which should give the design some bite. In the game, players roll dice to determine how shocking your plays can be. If your plays are just shocking enough, you receive Faint Tokens. If you ignore the Shock Threshold, that might work also; there’s a bonus for most shocking production, regardless of the Shock Threshold. At the end of the game, the player with the most Faint Tokens wins.

Grand Guignol was played by other people for the first time at Protospiel. Players seemed to enjoy it, although it’s still very, very raw.  I’m looking forward to seeing how this one develops.